Asia

With over 700 million illiterate adults worldwide, governments in many developing countries have implemented adult literacy programs. Typically these programs have low rates of success partly because the quality of teaching is heterogeneous. Standardization of teaching provided by computer-aided instruction might be a solution. However, there is little rigorous evidence of the effectiveness of computer-based adult literacy programs in delivering high-quality literacy and numeracy in the developing world.
Background Since 2002, Afghanistan has made much effort to achieve universal health coverage. According to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3, target eight, the provision of quality care to all must include usually underserved groups, including people with disabilities. We investigated whether a decade of international investment in the Afghan health system has brought quality health care to this group.
Elsevier,

Emotion, Space and Society, Volume 24, August 2017

We put to work recent efforts to decolonise trauma theory in the context of our experience of writing and performing in the Philippines our testimonial theatre play about Canada's Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP). The play, a collection of monologues based on verbatim scholarly research transcripts, was performed in Manila in November 2013 and October 2014, first as professional and then community theatre.

The aim of the conference is to examine the evolving expectations, available solutions, measurements and best practices associated with the optimization of research strategies. The theme of the 2017 conference will be "Universities and the Power of Data — Science for a Sustainable Society" and will focus on crucial areas such as sustainability, diversity, and the Power of Data in research. The event helps to advance SDG 4 Quality education and SDG 10 Reduced inequalities.
Lawyers from the Juris Pilot travel to Myanmar to deliver training
The burgeoning economy in Myanmar is creating much opportunity in the country but this is putting a strain on the judicial system which is trying to keep pace with development. The Juris Pilot addresses the need for greater knowledge of international contract law by training government legal staff. Sharing knowledge between professionals advances SDG 16.3 to promote the rule of law at the national and international levels.
Many countries are experiencing economic benefit from a surge in tourism, but once pristine landscapes are changing and local communities rarely benefit from the tourism, and instead run the risk of losing their livelihoods. Researchers in Thailand are investigating “creative tourism” – creative, sustainable approaches to tourism, that enable producers and consumers to relate and get value from their connections. This supports the tourism elements of SDGs 8, 12 and 14.

Neurochemical Aspects of Alzheimer's Disease Risk Factors, Pathogenesis, Biomarkers, and Potential Treatment Strategies, 2017, Pages 47-91

This book chapter advances SDG #3 and #10 by reviewing the risk factors for Alzheimer’s Disease, including normal aging, diet, sedentary lifestyle, sleep disturbances, genes [amyloid precursor protein (APP), presenilin 1 (PSEN1), PSEN2, and APOE], environmental factors, and epigenetic factors.
Open defecation is a major global health problem. The number of open defecators in India dwarfs that of other states, and most live in rural places. Open defecation is often approached as a problem scaled at the site of the individual, who makes a choice not to build and/or use a toilet. Attempts to end rural open defecation by targeting individuals, like social marketing or behavior change approaches, often ignore the structural inequalities that shape rural residents’ everyday lives.
Elsevier, Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 76, 1 May 2017
India has the world's highest burden of child undernutrition. Lack of income is considered as one of its primary causes. However, evidence suggests that despite steady economic growth and investments in social services directed towards child welfare, undernutrition rates continue to rise. Thus indicating, that there are other societal factors impacting child undernutrition. Previous studies indicate that countries with higher gender inequality have worse health outcomes for women and children.
Elsevier,

Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 31, 1 May 2017

Urbanization is transforming human society in many ways. Besides all the obvious benefits, it also brings negative impacts such as the well-documented urban heat island (UHI) effect and the magnified human heat stress. One way to reduce human heat stress is to increase vegetation density in urban areas, because they can provide evatranspiration and shading benefits. However, given the diversity of tree species and their morphological properties, it is important to understand rationally how different trees regulate thermal comfort.

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